Written Answers Thursday 25 August 2005

Scottish Executive

Crime

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what support it is giving to the development of SmartWater technology in crime detection.

Hugh Henry: SmartWater is a property marking solution which has been privately developed for commercial purposes and is aimed primarily at organisations and companies with an interest in the prevention and detection of crime. I understand that Aberdeen City Council piloted the technology in several streets at the start of the year, the first authority in Scotland to do so. Due to the reduction in housebreaking in these areas, the council is now funding a roll-out of the scheme across the city with the assistance of neighbourhood and community wardens, many of whom are funded by the Executive. We therefore have a clear interest in the scheme and I have asked my officials to monitor and evaluate progress.

Cultural Commission

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many copies of the Cultural Commission’s final report were printed and distributed.

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that members of the public have access to the Cultural Commission’s final report.

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has placed a copy of the Cultural Commission’s final report in each public library and, if not, what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Patricia Ferguson: The Executive believes that members of the public should have access to the final report of the Cultural Commission, which was published on 23 June. The document is available via the Scottish Executive’s website - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Arts-Culture – and can be accessed online in public libraries. An electronic "html" version is also being produced for posting on the Executive’s website.

  The commission was responsible for printing the report. Since the launch – for which the commission had 100 copies printed, all of which have been distributed - the Scottish Executive has arranged for an additional 1,000 printed copies of the report to be produced. They are being distributed to main public libraries, local authorities, those who provided assistance to the commission, including respondents who have not yet received copies, and others who have requested a copy.

Drug Misuse

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it determines the funding allocation to each local authority, NHS board area and drug action team for tackling drug misuse.

Hugh Henry: Funding for local authorities is now mainstreamed within the general allocation. Original allocations were determined by a range of factors influencing their spending needs, including the impact of depravation and sparsity.

  Between 2001-02 and 2003-04 NHS treatment funding was allocated on the basis of the substance misuse formula drawn from Arbuthnott. Additional funding in 2004-05 was concentrated in areas of high prevalence. For 2005-06 to 2006-07 the allocation of additional funding for drug treatment and rehabilitation was made on the basis of drug action team proposals which detailed projected improvements in numbers into treatment, waiting times and the range of services available locally. The funding will be issued to NHS boards in the first instance.

  Funding for drug action teams was allocated on the same basis as treatment funding and has remained constant for the past six years.

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) adults, (b) 16 and 17-year-olds and (c) under-16s have been admitted to hospital as a result of (i) alcohol and (ii) drug misuse in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board area.

Lewis Macdonald: Tables are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Table 1 (Bib. number 37263) shows the combined figures for acute and psychiatric hospital discharges with an explicit diagnosis of alcohol related conditions and drug misuse for the period 1999-2000 to 2001-02. Complete data on psychiatric discharges are unavailable for 2002-03 and 2003-04. This has been reported as discharge information because the detail is drawn from two datasets and one of these datasets records discharge data only.

  Table 2 (Bib. number 37264) provides information on discharges from general acute hospitals only for the period 2001-02 to 2003-04. The table with the 2003-04 figures are provisional. For acute hospitals, only discharge data exists.

Enterprise

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Scottish Enterprise regarding any reorganisation of, and reduction in, the number of local enterprise companies.

Nicol Stephen: No discussions have been held on a reorganisation of our reductions in the number of local enterprise companies.

Fire Precautions (Sub-Surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive which railway stations and premises in Scotland are covered by the Fire Precautions (Sub-Surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989.

Hugh Henry: Regulation 3(1) of the Fire Precautions (Sub-Surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989 (S.I. 1989/1401) (as amended) states that the regulations are applicable to "any premises used as a railway station to which members of the public have access (whether on payment or otherwise) and in which any railway platform is an enclosed underground platform".

  Strathclyde Fire and Rescue are the only authority who report having premises within their area to which the Regulations apply. These are the 15 stations on the Glasgow subway system along with the following main line stations:

  
Glasgow Central station
  Glasgow Queen Street station
  Anderston station, Glasgow
  Charing Cross station, Glasgow
  Argyle Street station, Glasgow.

Fire Precautions (Sub-Surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister regarding the retention of the Fire Precautions (Sub-Surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989.

Hugh Henry: During the drafting of the Fire (Scotland) Bill and its subsequent introduction to the Scottish Parliament and scrutiny, Scottish Executive officials liaised with colleagues in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) regarding the reform of fire safety legislation.

  Included in those discussions was the future of the Fire Precautions (Sub-Surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989. The Scottish Executive and the ODPM agreed that a consistent approach across the UK was desirable and that no proposals would be made to revoke these regulations until such time as sector-specific fire safety guidance, showing how all necessary protections currently afforded by the 1989 Regulations are continued by other laws, had been made available.

Fire Service

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many calls were made to the fire service in each of the last five years and how many such calls were found to be hoaxes, broken down by fire brigade area.

Hugh Henry: The information is not available in the form requested. Statistics are collected by HM Fire Services Inspectorate relating to the number of incidents attended by the Scottish fire and rescue services including malicious false alarms and are set out in the following tables.

  

Brigade
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03


Total Incidents Attended
Malicious False Alarms
Total Incidents Attended
Malicious False Alarms
Total Incidents Attended
Malicious False Alarms


Central Scotland
5,246
429
5,769
431
5,177
380


Dumfries and Galloway
2,121
49
2,084
89
1,874
71


Fife
6,736
558
6,862
484
5,945
423


Grampian
8,123
339
8,074
325
7,916
325


Highland and Islands
5,463
273
5,100
287
5,253
330


Lothian and Borders
21,384
1,179
22,420
1,298
20,461
1,160


Strathclyde
61,013
4,616
61,684
4,740
55,574
4,263


Tayside
9,017
533
9,872
502
7,512
465


Total
119,103
7,976
121,865
8,156
109,712
7,417



  

Brigade
2003-04
2004-05


Total Incidents Attended
Malicious False Alarms
Total Incidents Attended
Malicious False Alarms


Central Scotland
5,767
370
5,013
330


Dumfries and Galloway
2,203
52
1,913
49


Fife
7,928
435
6,885
311


Grampian
9,024
271
7,628
239


Highland and Islands
5,328
268
4,784
188


Lothian and Borders
23,966
1,256
20,657
1,123


Strathclyde
60,620
3,853
53,489
3,542


Tayside
9,573
371
8,109
314


Total
124,409
6,876
108,478
6,096

Fisheries

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on any schemes operated by other EU member states to help their fishing fleets cope with rising fuel costs.

Ross Finnie: The Commission is currently investigating a scheme in France designed directly to assist fishermen cope with high fuel costs and to decide as to whether it is state aid compliant. We are not aware of any other scheme being operated by other EU member states.

G8 Summit

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17796 by Mr Tom McCabe on 28 July 2005, whether it will list the costs already identified in relation to the G8 summit and indicate when a full assessment of costs will be available.

Mr Tom McCabe: As indicated in my answer to question S2W-17796 on 28 July 2005, once the full costs have been established we will publish the information. It is likely to be later in the year before all the costs are known and a comprehensive statement can be published.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Gaelic

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17760 by Peter Peacock on 4 August 2005, how many staff it employs for translation work between Gaelic and English.

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17760 by Peter Peacock on 4 August 2005, how many translators to and from Gaelic, employed by it, have legal training or expertise in legal terminology.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive does not employ any staff for translation work. The Scottish Executive has a contract which requires the contractor to translate documents in a reliable and competent manner.

NHS Waiting Times

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11086 by Mr Andy Kerr on 25 October 2004, what targets are set by NHS Lanarkshire for waiting times for patients to secure orthopaedic surgery following the first out-patient appointment with a consultant.

Mr Andy Kerr: NHS Lanarkshire is committed to ensuring that it meets the Executive’s national, maximum waiting times targets.

  If at a first out-patient consultation an orthopaedic consultant decides that a patient requires surgery and places them on the waiting list, then the current national commitment is that the patient will be admitted to hospital for that treatment within nine months. This national, maximum waiting times guarantee will be reduced to six months from the end of this year and to 18 weeks from the end of 2007.

  On 30 June 2005, no patient with a guarantee in NHS Lanarkshire had waited more than nine months for orthopaedic surgery.

NHS Waiting Times

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11087 by Mr Andy Kerr on 25 October 2004, whether NHS Lanarkshire meets the agreed target for the length of time for completion of treatment of orthopaedic patients.

Mr Andy Kerr: The current national maximum waiting time for in-patient and day case treatment, including orthopaedic surgery, is nine months. Lanarkshire NHS Board consistently meets this commitment.

  The guaranteed maximum waiting time for in-patient and day case treatment will be reduced to six months from the end of this year, and to 18 weeks from the end of 2007. NHS Lanarkshire is committed to meeting these guarantees for the benefit of patients in their area.

NHS Waiting Times

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients are currently waiting for orthopaedic surgery in the NHS Lanarkshire area.

Mr Andy Kerr: On 30 June 2005, 2,548 residents of Lanarkshire NHS Board were waiting for hospital admission for in-patient or day case treatment in the specialty of orthopaedics.

Pre-School Education

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Bookstart scheme to allocate £27 million for pre-school education in the written word in England and Wales will be applied in Scotland.

Robert Brown: As pre-school education is a devolved matter, the recent announcement of £27 million over three years for Bookstart in England will not apply to Scotland. The Scottish Executive currently funds Bookstart Scotland to provide a free bag of books to every baby in Scotland.

Public Sector

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what computerisation or IT failures have occurred in public sector projects of a value greater than £50,000 which have resulted in a failure in the project in each year since 1999; what the contracted cost of each project was, and what estimate it has made of the direct and indirect costs of failure or breakdown in each case.

Mr Tom McCabe: The information requested on computerisation or IT failures would be held by individual authorities and public sector bodies and there is no central record of computerisation or IT projects across the public sector.

  Within the Scottish Executive in 2000-01, one project which was not meeting user requirements was subject to an independent review which is part of normal project control procedures. Following that review, it was decided that further development could not be cost justified and the project was stopped at a cost of £200,000. However, some elements of that system were reused in project developments elsewhere in the Executive.

School Leavers

Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Scottish Enterprise regarding its use of a private company to produce the School Leaver Destination Report.

Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that advice given to young people in the context of the School Leaver Destination Report will not be adversely affected by the use of a private company.

Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure the accuracy of data compiled for the School Leaver Destination Report by a private company.

Nicol Stephen: Careers Scotland has a contractual obligation to provide the Scottish Executive with accurate data for the annual School Leaver Destination Report. This year Careers Scotland issued a contract for compilations of this year’s report. We understand that the contract requires the company undertaking the work to refer to Careers Scotland those school leavers who are unemployed or who need career planning support in order that they may receive appropriate expert advice.

  We further understand that Career Scotland will provide appropriate instruction to support compilation of this year’s School Leaver Destination Report; additionally, the Executive will continue its practice of previous years by applying our own validation of the data in the report prior to its publication in December 2005.

Social Work

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the future of local authority social work departments and, in particular, whether any or all of these departments’ services will be transferred, on either a statutory or non-statutory basis, to any other body or bodies.

Peter Peacock: We have no plans to take such action.

Sport

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what long-term media strategy it is using to encourage participation in sport and physical activity and how much it has spent on this in each of the last five years.

Patricia Ferguson: The healthy living media strategy, launched in January 2003, is a multi-strand communications and marketing campaign which promotes participation in physical activity and sport. The campaign consists of advertising, PR, information leaflets, packs, website, signposting service and support (individually tailored expert advice help-line, interactive web-based advice) for individuals. As at the end of March 2005, the total amount spent on the healthy living campaign was £6 million.